Snow Bound
by Kozmos
Summary: A mad bomber, a blizzard and a rolling semi all in a days work for the people of FLAG.
1. Chapter 1

Knight Rider and its characters are the property of Universal Studios.

This story is fictional and solely for entertainment purposes, no copyright infringement is intended.

Authors Notes:

This story takes place 6 months after the events in my story "A New Beginning". It's probably best if you read that story first or some of this one might not make sense.

I want to thank Shay-Monyou, my beta reader, for remembering high school grammar better than I do and for some wording suggestions.

* * *

Line breaks indicate a flashback or a return to current time.

* * *

Rating: PG-13 for language and sexual content.

**Snow Bound**

Chapter 1

Michael was bored. He'd been cooped up in the mobile unit with nothing to do for over five hours now. They were in the middle of an assignment waiting for a break in the case; this was their seventh case in a row. Devon was trying to make up for lost time caused by Michael's injury so they had been on the road for almost six months straight.

This most recent case was a mad bomber, blowing up sheds, barns, out buildings, and other property belonging to seemingly random citizens. '_The guy must have a bug up his ass about something and had gone off the deep end_' Michael thought when Devon briefed them about the case. The bombs had been carefully placed and timed so that no one had been seriously hurt so far. However, Michael and Devon both felt that it was only a matter of time before someone was hurt or even killed.

FLAG was called in by the Mayor of Lake City, a little town in the mountains of Colorado, against the better judgment of their local sheriff who believed he had the situation under control. That was four bombs ago and they weren't much closer to catching the bad guy now. Their bomber was using easily attained household products and chemicals to create his bombs, so KITT and Michael had no luck tracing the components. Luckily, for them, the bomber was getting bored too and had started taking more chances. He tipped off a reporter at the Arrow Head newspaper before his last bombing. Michael hoped he'd do it again and KITT placed a tap into Amanda Singer's home phone. So now they played the waiting game.

Michael was currently sitting on a chair next to the workbench that ran along a portion of one of the semi's walls. About a year ago Bonnie redesigned the mobile unit, he called it redecorating. She installed a short "L" shaped work bench that started about two feet in from KITT's parking place with the back of the L along the semi wall. There were three computers on this bench. Why she needed three was beyond Michael's imagination, but apparently Devon bought her explanation and the equipment. Another four-foot workbench picked up where the L bench ended. This is where Michael was now resting his feet as he kicked back in the tall chair. The one good thing that came out of the redecoration was the addition of a more comfortable work area in the center of the semi, including a couch and two very comfortable swivel chairs with a table between them. On the wall opposite the workbenches Bonnie installed large poster-sized wiring diagrams and circuit schematics of KITT's systems. She had these covered with plexi-glass and was often writing or drawing on the glass with dry erase markers as new ideas came to mind for upgrades or changes to KITT's systems.

He watched Bonnie as she worked on one of the three computers. She had no trouble keeping busy, and he had no idea what she was doing. She buried herself in those computers or under KITT's hood for the better part of the last six months. Though Michael thought she was making progress on her recovery from the wounds that Chad left behind, it hadn't been easy. He remembered coming back to the mobile unit, about two weeks after Chad's arrest, to find it parked along the road and Bonnie missing. His mind drifted back to that afternoon.

* * *

"Michael we are quickly approaching the mobile unit I suggest you slow down" KITT said. "It doesn't appear to be moving."

"What? Is anything wrong?" Michael replied as a little bit of worry crept into his thoughts.

"Not that I can detect, and there was no mayday signal from Bonnie. According to my sensors the semi is in perfect order."

"Is she inside?"

"No, I am picking up one person in the cab. However I am registering a heat source about a quarter of a mile away on the ridge to the right." KITT used his video camera to zoom in on the heat source and found it to be Bonnie sitting on the ridge. "Do you think she is alright?" KITT asked. He too was worried about Bonnie, she had been so quiet lately, not quite depressed, but defiantly not happy.

Michael had stopped the car at the edge of the ramp. He looked at the video monitor and Bonnie sitting alone on a large rock. "I don't know Pal." he said as he opened the car door and got out. "Go on inside and secure the mobile unit, I'll go check on her." He had been waiting for the secondary breakdown so to speak. She had not spoken of Chad since the afternoon of his arrest when she cried herself to sleep in his arms, and he knew that she was not done talking about it.

KITT rolled into the back of the semi and the ramp started closing as Michael made his way up the hill.

Bonnie heard him coming and glanced down. She knew that he would come up here when he got in. She thought that she had wanted to be alone to think for a while in the open air. However when she caught sight of him climbing up the hill she realized that she really wanted him to comfort her.

"Hey" he said as he reached the top. "Beautiful day."

She looked up at him. "Yes it is."

"Got room on that rock for one more?" he asked.

She moved over a little bit and made space for him as he sat down. "Everything going okay with the case?"

Michael was enjoying the scenery and breathing in the clean fresh air. She had picked a beautiful spot to stop. The hill he climbed wasn't all that steep or high on the side facing the road, but the opposite side looked out over a large desert valley about two hundred feet below. There were desert flowers and cacti growing all around. The afternoon sky was a perfect blue with a few wispy white clouds here and there.

"Yea" he said without looking at her. "The case is moving right along. We should wrap it up later tonight."

He turned away from the valley and looked at her. She was so beautiful he thought and she looked so vulnerable at that moment. He had this uncontrollable urge to touch her face, and kiss her, but he knew he couldn't do that. It was way too soon and he didn't want to drive her away. He looked back over his shoulder down the hill to the semi. "You just taking a little breather?"

"Yes. I guess I needed some fresh air." She looked away out over the desert valley. "Actually I think I was getting a little cabin fever and wanted some open space."

"Well you picked a helluva great spot."

"Thanks." She looked back at him "How's KITT? Any problems I need to go fix?"

"Nothing that can't wait half an hour or so."

They sat in silence for a while then Michael asked, "You want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"What ever it was that got you to stop the semi and take a hike up this hill." he said with a smile.

She sat quietly for a few more minutes; so long in fact that Michael began to think she either wasn't ready to talk or just didn't want to talk to him.

"I must be some kind of idiot or fool or something." She finally said in a soft voice that sounded close to tears.

"What makes you say that?"

"How could I not have seen through that jackass? I played into his hand perfectly." she said as she leaned forward to rest her elbows on the tops of her thighs and partially covered her face with her hands.

"No, you didn't. And you're no fool or idiot. You're just human like I said before. We have all fallen into that category once or twice in our lives. Look what happened to me when I trusted Tanya Walker." He leaned forward too and tried to look into her eyes. She moved her hands away from her face and stopped hiding.

"Besides he was a professional, and he really didn't get past you, ya know." Michael added, when he could again see her face.

"That's only because of you. I would have delivered KITT right into his hands. I don't know how I would've lived with myself if that had happened." She had thought about that possibility so much in the last two weeks, it had haunted her dreams at night. If she really admitted it she was more scared of the possibility of loosing KITT, than the humiliation and hurt that Chad had caused her.

Michael turned on the rock and sat facing her. "Hey, give yourself some more credit. I think even without my interference you would have figured it out and not let him get KITT." He paused before continuing, "You're forgetting something in all of this."

She looked up at him with a little look of surprise on her face. "What?"

"KITT. Do you think he would've let someone take him away from us that easily? I mean come on, what was that goofball's plan to get KITT off the grounds? Did he think that KITT would just follow him like a lost puppy?"

Bonnie smiled a little at the mental picture of Chad trying to lure KITT away. "You don't know what his plan was. Like you said he was a professional."

Michael laughed, "Yea at stealing inanimate objects. Can you imagine trying to steal KITT with that attitude he has?"

Bonnie joined him in his laugh. This was why she had come out here, she knew that Michael would pickup on her feelings and would be able to cheer her up. He always had a way of making her feel a little better.

She moved one foot up onto the rock, rested her chin on the top of her knee and wrapped her arms around her bent leg. Her mind began to wander again and as usual, of late, it found it's way to wondering if she would always be alone. She turned her head towards Michael and rested her cheek on her knee. "What amazes me is how I believed that he accepted my life. I mean we don't have a normal lifestyle and I can't see any normal guy being okay with what I do and how often I'm gone." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "When I told him about KITT and how he usually comes first Chad had no problem with that. That should have been a big clue; nobody would put up with that, or understand it."

"Yea, I kinda know what you mean." Michael said. He thought about Stevie and the fact that she didn't want to be a part of his life until he left FLAG.

Bonnie had been watching him as she spoke to him, he was looking out over the valley and it appeared that he was miles away. He did actually understand what she was talking about maybe he was the only one who could truly understand. KITT meant the same to both of them and would probably always come first.

Michael stood up and turned to climb back down the hill. He stopped at the edge for just a second and said, "You know there is one person who could handle it and does understand." Then he walked down the hill and back to the semi.

* * *

Michael realized that Bonnie had actually begun to lighten up a bit after that day. She had smiled more and even laughed some. He decided that he had made some progress too.

But right now this boredom was killing him. He opened a drawer under the workbench looking for a distraction of some kind and found it immediately. He pulled out a hand full of rubber bands and set them on the bench. He put one on the tip of his thumb took careful aim and pulled it back. He fired it and hit right on target. The rubber band smacked Bonnie's computer monitor ricocheted off and hit her left arm. He was rewarded for a perfect shot with her startled jump and squeak of alarm.

She turned to him with a look of annoyance. "Can't you find something to do?"

"I have found something to do!" he answered innocently.

She noticed the pile of rubber bands next to his elbow and rolled her eyes. She turned back to computer. '_He could be so immature at times_' she thought.

After a minute or so Michael picked up another rubber band. This time he aimed for the roof of the semi and fired. The weapon bounced off the roof and landed right in her coffee mug. She looked at the mug, and then at him.

"You're really starting to aggravate me." she said, but actually his playfulness was beginning to rub off on her.

'_Good_' he thought when he caught the slightly playful glint of her eyes. He was getting through to her. He chuckled at her and quickly picked up another rubber band and lightly fired it at the top of her thigh. It hit its mark, and she feigned loosing her temper. She quickly picked up a small travel size bottle of hand lotion sitting on the bench and flung it at him. He was so startled at her retaliation that he fell out of his chair trying to avoid the flying projectile.

He quickly crawled behind the chair he was sitting in; peeked over the top and yelled "What the hell was that?"

She had turned back to her computer and lazily answered, "You started it." If he could have seen her face at that moment he would have witnessed her fight to hold back the laugh at his graceful exit from the chair.

"Oooh, this is war." He said from behind the chair.

She stood up and replied "You want war? You got it." she grabbed the two rubber bands that Michael had shot at her as well as a few small articles from the workbench and took cover behind one of the swivel chairs. She wasn't sure what had come over her, playing along with Michael in his games was not something she usually gave into.

Michael was amazed at her response he hadn't actually expected her to play along and he was encouraged by it. He reached up to the workbench and grabbed his stockpile of weapons. "You don't stand a chance." he taunted her and leaned out from cover to fire on her position. Her leg was sticking out from behind the chair and he scored a direct hit on her calf.

She yelped from surprise and jumped up to return fire. Her shot was way too high and missed him by several feet. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this good or had this much fun and laughed at her own ineptness.

He laughed at her as well and then fired a round of his own. This time she ducked and the missile soared past where her shoulder had been. She looked through the pile of weapons that she had grabbed and found a pink rubber eraser. She lobbed it at him hand grenade style and scored a direct hit to the top of his head.

He yelled in mock pain and acted out a long and drawn out death scene finally falling down in the middle of the semi. She laughed until her stomach began to hurt and bent over holding her midriff. She was also trying very hard not to pee her pants.

KITT made a sound as if clearing his throat. "I hate to break up this intellectual debate, of sorts, but I have an incoming call to Miss Singer's phone. It could be our bomber." He really was sorry to break up the moment. He hadn't seen Bonnie that happy in a long time and Michael was entertaining as usual.

Michael sighed loudly and got up quickly "Record it Partner." he said as he made his way through the semi to KITT. He paused next to Bonnie as he passed her, casually put his hand on her arm and gave her that dazzling smile. "Next time you won't get so lucky." he said. Then he jumped in the car and KITT backed out of the semi.


	2. Chapter 2

As they drove towards the town KITT replayed the tape of the phone call.

'_Hello_' a female voice said

'_I've done it again; I'll strike out until they listen. The poaching has got to stop. Now it's my turn to do a little hunting. The hunters will be come the hunted_.' The caller said

'_I know you, is this Henry? Henry what are you doing_?' the woman said.

"I'm afraid that's it Michael, it appears the man hung up." KITT said.

"Sure he did, she recognized his voice. KITT, I know we've done this a hundred times already, but let's make it a hundred and one. Is there anything that can tie all the bombing victims to each other?"

"Well given this last clue from our caller there is now. They all have a hunting license."

"Well that's something, but I'm not sure how it helps us narrow down the next target. Let's get to Amanda Singer's place and see what she knows."

"Right, Michael."

Michael stepped on the gas pedal and the car shot off reaching over 150mph. He expertly navigated the winding mountain roads to the edge of town and then slowed considerably. Amanda was getting into her vehicle as Michael and KITT pulled up. He got out and ran up to her; she had stopped when she caught sight of his approach.

"Well somehow I'm not surprised to see you here." Amanda said.

"Who is Henry?" Michael questioned.

"How do you know about Henry?" she returned.

"We can discuss that later, right now there may be lives hanging in the balance."

"Henry Winfro. He used to work for the fish and game department, but he was let go recently due to disagreements with his supervisors." Amanda said. "He has a very strict view of the hunting laws around here and was enforcing them with a strong arm. But I can't believe that he's behind this, he would never hurt anyone."

"Well that remains to be seen. If he wanted to make a big point to a large crowd of hunters, where would he do it?"

Amanda thought carefully for a few seconds. "Well there are a couple of hunting stores in town. You can usually find two or more guys in there at a time."

Michael shook his head, this wasn't fitting right and he had a gut feeling that time was running out. "Okay, do either of those stores belong to guys who maybe don't follow the hunting seasons?"

Amanda shook her head. "No of course not their livelihood could be threatened by that if word got out. Wait a minute, there is the Hunter's Lodge. It's a bar in town that all the guys hang out in. The owner, Brad Morgan, is a real shady character as well as most of his buddies."

"All right that sounds like as good a spot as any to start. You stay here and call the sheriff." Michael shouted as he ran back to KITT and jumped in.

They headed toward the center of town as KITT brought up a map on the video monitor with the location of the bar highlighted. As the Hunter's Lodge came into view Michael let an explicative fly, the place was packed.

"KITT are you picking up anything on your scanners?"

"No nothing out of the ordinary, but the bombs are made with ordinary chemicals."

"Well keep searching, there are lot of people here that could get hurt if this is the next target."

"Perhaps we should try to evacuate the area." KITT said.

Michael glanced around; he noticed the Sheriff's SUV pulling up with a little red pick up truck behind it. "Looks like our reporter called the cops and didn't listen about staying put."

"Michael I have something!" KITT interrupted. "In the trash can on the sidewalk."

Michael sat up higher in his seat and located the trashcan. "Is it on a timer or a remote?"

"Timer, and if my readings are correct the time is about to run out."

Michael stepped on the gas pedal again and drove the car up onto the sidewalk. "KITT please tell me this bomb isn't sensitive to movement?"

"I can't confirm that."

"Too late!" Michael said as the nose of the car made contact with the metal can. They knocked it over and managed to wedge it under KITT's front end. Michael continued to move the car forward with the can under them and drove it out away from the building into the street.

Pandemonium erupted on the sidewalk, in the bar and on the street. As the black shiny car made its way to the middle of the street and stopped.

"KITT, I'm sorry about this." Michael said just as the bomb exploded. It rocked the car with its force and even lifted the front end off the ground. They came down with a thud. Michael sat there dumbfounded for a second; he had not expected the bomb to have that much force. The first seven were much smaller. He reached out and ran his hand along the top of KITT's dash.

"KITT… can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"Let's talk about it later." KITT replied a little shaky.

Michael smiled in relief and patted KITT's dash. The he opened the door and got out as Sheriff Tinly approached. It was cold outside of KITT's cabin the wind was picking up and Michael drew his jacket tighter to himself.

"Are you all right?" the sheriff said as he ran up to Michael.

"Yea I'm fine." Michael said as he ran his hand over KITT's roof.

Amanda approached the two men. "Wow how did you do that?" She asked.

Michael ignored her question and turned instead to sheriff Tinly. "Do you know Henry Winfro? He called in a threat to Amanda and I think he's your bomber."

The sheriff started to answer when Amanda interrupted. "I still want to know how you know about my phone conversations. Did you tap my phone?"

"Is that true Amanda? Did Henry call you?" sheriff Tinly asked.

"Yes he did but I just can't believe that nice old guy could do this." She replied.

"Well your nice old guy just tried to kill a bar full of people!" Michael said angrily.

Amanda wasn't paying attention; she was watching a man get into a large truck down the street.

"Amanda?" the sheriff called to her. "Do you have any idea why Henry would call you?"

"No, but I think that's him." she pointed to the truck driving away.

Michael turned to look where she was pointing and then moved to get into the car.

"Hey, I'll take it from here!" Sheriff Tinly shouted at the Trans AM as it sped away.

"KITT, can we catch him?" Michael asked when a suspicious rattle sounded from the front of the car.

"Even with two tires flat." KITT answered jokingly.

They pursued the truck out of town and into rougher terrain. The noise from KITT's engine got louder and a few alarms started to go off on the dash.

"Michael may I suggest that we end this chase soon."

"Gottcha, KITT. There's no way we can pass him on this road. Do you think you have at least one jump left in ya?" They had turned onto a single lane dirt road with trees or rocks on both sides.

"As long as it's only one."

Michael pushed the gas a little more and then hit the turbo boost button. KITT sailed over the truck and landed hard. A few more noises and alarms erupted. Michael swerved the car to the side and blocked the trucks path. Henry Winfro slid his vehicle to a stop just short of hitting KITT. Michael jumped out and chased after the older man. It wasn't much of chase and Michael had the man in a few seconds.

The Sheriff and Amanda pulled up. "I thought I told you I had this?" the Sheriff said as he got out and took Mr. Winfro's arm.

"You're welcome." Michael said as he released Winfro into the Sheriff's custody.

Michael went back to KITT and rubbed the car's roof. "How ya doing, Partner? Can we make it back?"

"Well, much as I would not like to call Bonnie, I think it would be best if she could meet us on the main road." KITT said.

The Sheriff had secured his prisoner in the squad car and then went to look through Henry's truck. He found several of the chemicals used in the bombs and a few of the containers. Michael was looking over the sheriff's shoulder and Amanda was snapping pictures of the truck.

"Well I guess that wraps up our case, between the phone call and the evidence in this truck I'm pretty certain we have our man." The Sheriff said. He looked over to KITT "You gonna make it back to town in that car?"

Michael smiled "We won't be going back into town. My job is done and I'll get out of your hair now."

"Well I guess I do owe you a thank you, even though I'm sure my people and I could have taken care of this without outside interference." the sheriff said as he stuck out his hand.

Michael shook the sheriff's hand and turned to get into the car, then he stopped. "Oh you are going to look into Henry's accusation about the poachers in the area? Right." Michael said.

The sheriff smiled and nodded his head yes. "Of course we will." He then asked Amanda to drive Henry's truck back into town, clearing the road for Michael and KITT to head out.

Michael got into the car, leaned forward and started KITT's engine, it didn't sound right. "KITT… Have you called Bonnie yet?" He was a little afraid of having to make that call, but he was even more afraid that KITT was damaged badly.

"No, I tried but apparently my long range communications are down. The transceiver is located near the area of impact from the explosion."

"She's not that far away, why do you need long range com to call her?"

"All communications except those to your COM link are considered long range." KITT replied.

"Wonderful." Michael reached over to the center glove box and took out his cell phone. He rarely used it since he was almost always with KITT and could use his communications system. He hit the speed dial for Bonnie's cell phone.

In the mobile unit Bonnie was trying to concentrate on her current project, but Michael and KITT had been gone for almost two hours now and she was a little worried. She was always worried about them to some degree, but it seemed to intensify when they got closer to finishing up a case. When her cell phone rang she nearly jumped out of her chair, but when she saw the incoming number her worrying took on another level.

"Michael, What is it?" she asked.

"Hey, how's it going?" Michael answered.

"Cut the crap and tell me what's wrong. Is KITT all right? Are you hurt? Why are you calling me on the cell phone?"

Michael laughed a little "Calm down, KITT's fine, for the most part, and I'm fine too."

"'For the most part?' Just what exactly does that mean?" she asked with a little anger and dread in her voice.

"Well we kinda took out the bomb. We'll tell you all about after you come pick us up."

She paused at the other end of the line. "Michael, why do I have to come get you? Please tell me KITT's okay?"

"Look don't panic, He's fine I already told you that. We just don't want to strain any more systems than necessary." Michael held out the cell phone towards KITT's voice modulator. "KITT, talk to her will ya? She's about to go off the deep end."

"Bonnie, everything is fine. There appears to be some damage to my front suspension and the long-range transceiver. That's why Michael called you on the cell phone." KITT said reassuringly.

She listened to KITT and felt better hearing his voice, though she knew that he was lying about his condition. "All right. Can you activate your homing signal and I'll direct the driver to follow it."

"No the general homing signal transmitter is down also. I'll have to use the emergency signal. I think however that you should bypass the alarms at FLAG. We don't want them worrying over nothing." KITT replied.

KITT's emergency signal used a separate transmitter safely located inside his CPU box and it automatically set off alarms all over FLAG when activated. There was no way anyone could miss or ignore them. KITT was right Bonnie thought, she didn't want Devon or the rest of her team at home getting worried for no real reason. She got to work on the computer and accessed FLAG's network. Then she deactivated all the emergency alarms. She couldn't keep the system from receiving the emergency signal; it would be broadcast through the Knight Industries satellite all over the northern hemisphere. But she could keep all the alarms from going off when they received the signal.

"Alright KITT, you are clear to transmit." She said.

KITT activated the emergency signal and immediately another annoying alarm added to the chorus of alarms already going off in the cabin.

"Hey partner, do you think you can do something about this noise?" Michael asked.

"Of course." KITT silenced the alarms.

"Thanks. How much further to the main road?"

"At this point your eyes are better than mine. I think my main scanner has just gone out."

Michael sighed, "I'm sorry, KITT."

"Don't apologize. I can take the abuse far better than those people in the bar would have."

"Michael, are you still there?" Bonnie shouted through the phone. She could hear their conversation in the background.

Michael picked up the phone, "Yea I'm here."

"I'm reading KITT's signal and we are about twenty minutes from your position. Just hang on and I'll come and get you."

"Okay, we are making our way to the main road, but I see it now. So we'll just wait for you." Michael said.

"Alright see you both in a few minutes." With that she hung up the phone and brought up an inventory listing of the parts that they had on hand in the semi. She knew that if KITT had sustained structural damage to the car frame that there was nothing she could do out in the field and they would have to return to FLAG to make the repairs. Devon would not be happy, but they were due for a few days off anyway.

It started to snow as Michael and KITT reached the road where they were to stop and wait for Bonnie. "How ya doing, KITT?" Michael asked. He was concerned for his partner though he knew the damage was not life threatening.

"I'll be fine Michael; however it is uncomfortable to not have control over the damaged systems. By the way have I mentioned that I really hate snow? The cold weather does nothing to improve my situation."

Michael laughed a little. He did in fact know how much KITT hated snow, about as much as he hated flying. Bonnie had told him once that the cold weather didn't really damage KITT's systems, but it does cause his processing speeds to drop. She explained it as the human equivalent of being on strong cold medicine. He leaned forward and looked up through the windshield at the snow coming down. He thought it was really pretty.

"Come on KITT, its just a little snow. Look how pretty it is."

"It would be pretty from inside the mobile unit, not out in it."

Michael laughed again "There are no windows in the semi."

"My point exactly."

The wind started to pick up and blow the snow around in dizzying circles. Michael noted the change and actually began to wonder if they were in for a storm. "KITT have you checked any weather reports lately?"

"Yes I was monitoring them before we left the mobile unit. There was a winter storm warning posted for this area about four hours ago."

Michael looked at KITT's voice modulator, "And you didn't think to mention it to us?"

"I was planning on it if we were going to be out near the approach of the storm. It was not supposed to move into this area for another two hours"

"Well that's just great. On top of everything else Mother Nature has decided to play her own game. I think this storm is coming faster than they said." Michael picked up the cell phone and hit redial.

"We're almost there. Is something else wrong?" Bonnie asked as an answer to the phone call.

"Actually I just wanted to tell you that it looks like a storm is coming. It's snowing out here already and the wind has picked up. You better dress warm when you open the ramp." Michael said.

She smiled into the phone happy that he would think of her comfort. "Thanks for the warning, but I know already. Paul just called from the cab to tell me there is a blizzard watch in effect for this area."

"Hey, I see you coming down the road now. I'll talk to ya in a minute." Michael hung up the phone.


	3. Chapter 3

The semi truck pulled to a stop on the side of the road and the back ramp lowered. Michael started KITT's engine again and cringed at the sounds coming out. He gently put the car in drive and eased up the ramp. As soon as KITT cleared the opening Bonnie pushed the buttons to close the ramp and shut out the biting cold air. Michael cut KITT's engine and got out of the car. Bonnie was hugging herself and rubbing her arms to try to warm up.

"Before you say anything, I'm sorry." Michael said with his hands splayed out in front of himself in a semi defensive posture.

Bonnie looked at him and saw a myriad of emotions in his face and eyes, but mostly worry and concern for KITT. She laughed a little, "Relax Michael I'm not going to kick your butt."

His posture relaxed a little, but he was not convinced that she would let him off that easy. "That would be a first." He said as he carefully moved past her to the front of the semi.

Bonnie lowered the diagnostic computer from the ceiling. Then knelt in front of KITT's prow, she gently rubbed the hood of the car and spoke quietly to him. Michael couldn't make out her words, but he knew she was trying to comfort KITT and reassure him that he would be fine. She opened his hood and attached the cables from the computer to KITT's CPU.

Michael pulled up a chair from the workbench and sat down. "So how bad is he?"

She looked at him as she finished attaching the cables. "Well I'll have to run the diagnostic programs, and KITT's own self check programs, but that will only tell me about the electronic damage as you know. The mechanical is another story. We have to go home to do full repairs." She had initiated the programs and then got down on the floor to slide under KITT. She checked to make sure the hydraulic jack lifts were in position and then asked Michael to raise KITT up. Michael stood up and moved to the wall panel that housed the ramp and the hydraulic lift controls as well as the interior spotlights and the suspended computer controls. He pushed the lift button until KITT was suspended about a foot in the air.

"Sorry bout this, Pal." Michael knew how much KITT disliked being off his tires and he understood the feeling of complete helplessness that KITT experienced in these moments.

"It's all right Michael. We all get our turn under the doctor's care eventually."

"Yea some of us are lucky enough to get over the doctor." Michael said as he passed by Bonnie's legs sticking out from under KITT. She kicked him lightly in the back of the knee before he could get by her.

"Ow!"

"You had that coming, you brat." she said from below the car. She spent a few minutes looking over the damage and making mental notes of what would need to be done when they got home.

Michael rolled his chair up to KITT's passenger front fender and leaned his elbow on the car. After a few minutes he realized that the truck was not moving. When FLAG first experimented with using a semi trailer as a mobile home base one of the first hurdles they had to cross was the vibration and movement as the truck rolled down the road, that and the fact the whole idea was illegal. They were able to rationalize away the illegality of occupying the moving semi trailer by not having a better idea. But there was still the horrible shaking inside the trailer. Bonnie called in construction engineers and architects that had experience in designing earthquake proof buildings and with their help designed a platform that would absorb all the vibrations. This platform then became the base of the semi trailer. The custom made truck, when finished, came in with a price tag that nearly rivaled the Trans AM minus the electronics and KITT's CPU.

"Hey have you noticed that we aren't moving yet?" Michael said as Bonnie rolled the creeper out from under KITT.

She glanced around from her position on the floor and then looked at him. "You're right, I wonder if something is wrong."

Just then the phone connected to the cab of the semi rang. Bonnie answered it, exchanged a few words with the driver and then hung up. "Paul's a little concerned about the weather, and wants to talk to us before starting for home. He's coming in the side door."

The door opened a few seconds later and the driver climbed in along with several gusts of snow and cold wind.

"Whoa it's really blowing out there," he said. Paul was one of the four people hired as the driving teams for the mobile unit. Though the truck was equipped with a very simple AI computer that could handle most of the driving, they had never let it drive without an actual person in the cab. The semi's AI was nothing like KITT. It was capable of the calculations necessary to handle driving a rig the size of the mobile unit, but it did not have KITT's capacity to learn. In fact if it weren't for the decisions it had to make while handling the rig Bonnie would not have called it an artificial intelligence.

"Are we going to sit this out?" Michael asked from his spot next to KITT.

"Well I'd rather not wait out a blizzard on top of a mountain." Paul said. "That's what I wanted to discuss. We are a good thirty miles out of Lake City and the radar shows the storm is worse in that direction."

"What is our alternative" Bonnie asked

KITT spoke up "There are actually two alternatives. The spring creek pass to the north and the Los Pinos pass to the east. Both will get us off the top of the mountain quickly."

"Yea that's what I was going to say." Paul smiled to KITT.

"So which one is better?" Michael asked.

"The spring creek pass is a little steeper, but it gets us to a town more quickly where we can wait out the rest of this storm." Paul answered.

They all glanced around the room at each other, and Michael realized that no one wanted to make the decision. He waved his hand in the air, "Well then I guess we should quit wasting time here and head down the mountain through the spring creek pass."

Paul smiled, glad that he didn't have to make the decision. "Sure thing, Mike. Don't worry I'll get us there safe and sound." He said on his way out the door.

"This is not going to be a fun trip." Bonnie said. "I'm going to call Devon and let him know what's going on."

Michael leaned his head down and rested it on his arm that was resting on KITT's fender. "Okay. How bad is KITT?"

"The front suspension is shot and the engine is going to need quite a bit of work. I can start on the electronic systems on the way home." She said as the computer made the connection to Devon's office.

Devon answered the chime. "Hello Bonnie." he said and then frowned at the static in the connection. "What is wrong with the communications?"

"We are in the middle of a snow storm here. Michael and KITT caught the bomber, but KITT took some damage from a bomb as well as the cold. We are on our way home, but we're gong to have to wait out this storm somewhere."

Devon was concerned for KITT as well as their safety in the storm. "What is your location now?"

"We are east of Lake City on highway 149 I think. The plan is to go through spring creek pass and stop in Creede."

Devon tried to make a few notes, but he had trouble understanding what she said with all the static and asked her to repeat it. She did twice before he was sure he had gotten it correctly. "All right then."

"The communications may go out with the storm, so don't bother trying to call us. We'll contact you if there are any problems and we'll let you know when we get back on the road home." Bonnie disconnected the system and turned back to Michael and KITT.

"I'm going to get started on KITT." She said and moved to the lift control panel to lower him to the ground. She didn't need to work underneath yet, and there was no need to discomfort him further by keeping him off his tires for no reason. "Why don't you go get some rest?"

"I can rest right here." he said looking up at her without moving his head.

"Yes you can, but I was trying to be polite. You're going to be in my way there."

"Then I'll go sit inside." he started to move towards KITT's driver side.

"I'll have to work there too."

He signed heavily.

"Look I know you want to be close to him, I guess you could sit in the passenger side. You shouldn't be in my way there." she said.

He smiled, and she put her hand on his arm. "He's gonna be alright and contrary to what I might have said in the past, I don't blame you when he gets hurt." She paused "No more than I would blame him for your injuries. Speaking of that are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes I'm fine. Thanks." he kissed her cheek and then climbed into KITT's passenger seat.

Her cheek felt a little warm where he had placed his lips. She thought it must have just been that she was still cold from the doors opening, and turned to busy herself with KITT's repairs.

Michael watched her working as much as he could with KITT's hood open, but found himself feeling groggy.

"Why don't you just close your eyes and go to sleep?" KITT said quietly.

"Because I'm not tired." Michael said.

"Really? You could have fooled me."

Michael chuckled a little and squirmed into a more comfortable position in the seat. He was not used to this seat and it felt different from his own.

"You know what Bonnie said earlier goes for me too. I don't blame you in anyway for the incidents that happen while we are working."

"Well you should, I was the one who forced you to cover that bomb."

"Michael do you think that if you had been incapacitated that I would have done anything differently under the circumstances?"

He was quiet for a while "No I guess not. I still feel bad though."

"That's fine but don't blame yourself. I will always feel badly when you are injured too."

"Thanks, partner." Michael said as he closed his eyes.

Bonnie could hear them talking quietly through the open windows, but she couldn't make out their words. It didn't matter she didn't want to eavesdrop on their conversation. She was just glad that Michael had decided to stay close to KITT and distract him while she worked. Though she was always careful, like any physician, she sometimes caused more pain while trying to repair the damage.

"Michael, can I ask you something?" KITT asked.

"I thought you told me to go to sleep?" he said without opening his eyes.

"I know that you are not asleep yet."

Michael laughed, "Yea and there's no chance of that happening with you yakking at me."

KITT knew he was kidding so he didn't take it personally.

"Are you gonna ask your question or wait till I'm almost asleep again?"

"Why haven't you told her your feelings?"

Michael sat straight up in the seat his eyes were wide open now. "KITT, what are you talking about?" he said more quietly.

"I'm talking about you and Bonnie and don't play stupid with me you don't act that well. You are in love with her aren't you?"

"I augh…. I" Michael stuttered, he was stunned. He had no idea how KITT had come to his conclusion, but he seemed to have figured out things pretty well. Michael peeked down through the gap under KITT's hood and saw Bonnie moving around in front of KITT. "Ya know I'm not really comfortable talking about this here and now."

"It's all right, I understand. I think. I also think that you should talk to her, and soon."

"Well this has to be timed right; she's still getting over that Chad/Robert thing."

"I think she is well over it."

Michael felt some odd movement and reached out to KITT's dash to steady himself. Then the swaying got worse, much worse. "KITT!" Michael yelled, "What's going on?"

KITT didn't have time to answer. Paul lost control of the semi and it was swerving all over the road. He tried to gain control and slow the vehicle down, though he had not been traveling much over thirty miles an hour. The road turned to the left a head and on the right side was a sloped drop-off more than five hundred feet down. The semi slid uncontrollably off the road and over the edge. It rolled onto its right side and momentum carried it over again and again. The trailer did two complete three hundred and sixty degree rolls and then once more to land on the passenger side. The tractor disconnected from the trailer and continued down the embankment another forty feet.

Inside Michael felt queasy as the semi began to roll. KITT slid to the right, his passenger door hit the wall, and Michael slammed his head hard on the rolled down window edge. KITT realized that they were going to go completely over and quickly snapped Michael in place with the passive laser restraint system. The trailer rolled onto its side taking KITT and it's passengers with it. KITT's momentum kept going and he rolled onto his roof along with the trailer. He understood that with the combined energy of the rolling trailer and his movement inside that they would probably roll several times to the bottom of whatever hill they were on. He hoped that Bonnie would survive.

Bonnie had moved towards the workbench to grab a tool she needed when the semi started to lose control. She reached out to grasp hold of the bench, but as the trailer went over on its side she realized she couldn't hold on. She looked down and found herself sitting on the schematic posters that she used for reference guides, but she didn't remain there long. The trailer kept rolling and she struggled to protect her head from banging on the walls and furniture as she tumbled around. She briefly thought that this must be what it would feel like to be a sock in the dryer. The lights went out at some point and it became pitch dark. As she tumbled around inside the rolling semi her tools and other items fell all around her. Some of them struck her and others just made a constant racquet of noise adding to the dark confusion. She could also hear KITT as he thumped from side to side. She felt her left shoulder strike something hard and white-hot pain shot down her arm. The last thing she thought about before losing consciousness was that she was really glad they had the foresight to nail most of the furniture to the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

Everything was deathly quiet except for a slight moaning of metal as it strained to hold together. KITT tried to scan the area, but his systems were sluggish and some were not responding at all. Then he heard Michael gasping.

"KITT, release the restraint, I can't breath."

KITT loosened up the setting of the laser restraint but did not completely release Michael. "Michael, don't move. My position is not stable and if I roll completely onto my side I fear the impact will start the trailer rolling again."

"Okay." Michael said as he started to look around. KITT was partially on his passenger side with his driver side tires resting on what should be the floor of the semi. He couldn't see anything outside KITT's cabin, the lights were out. "KITT, can you put some light out there? Where's Bonnie?"

KITT turned on his lower fog lights and illuminated the disaster area that used to be their mobile office. "My scanners are minimally functional, but I can detect her on the floor directly ahead of me about 5 feet away. Actually she is on the wall just like I am."

Fear welled up inside Michael at the thought that Bonnie might be badly injured. She had just gone through the same thing he had, but she didn't have KITT to absorb all the impacts. "All right, you're gonna have to let me go partner so I can get out there and check on her."

"Michael I'm afraid if you move too much you may cause me to loose my balance and fall over." There was a slight tremor in KITT's voice. He was scared and this was one of those rare occasions where he had no control over the situation to help his friends. In fact he was actually in a position to cause them more harm.

Michael looked around again, and then noticed warm fluid running down the side of his face. He was bleeding from somewhere on his head. That would explain the hammer like pounding inside his skull he thought. "I think I can get out the driver window, I'll be careful to keep all my weight towards the left side to keep you balanced, but I have to get out to help Bonnie. Okay?" He was trying to calm KITT a little.

"Alright, are you ready?" KITT asked.

"Yea, let me go slowly."

As KITT loosed the restraint Michael worked his way up to the driver seat all while trying to keep his weight as close to the floor of the car as possible. His head was really pounding now, and he had to move slowly to keep from getting dizzy. He made his way out the window and started to slide down the front fender.

"Watch the hood Michael it's closed but not latched."

"I see it." he said and then jumped lightly off of KITT's fender to the wall, now the floor, of the trailer. He went down to his knees immediately, holding his head trying to still the pounding and the slow the dizziness that enveloped him.

"Michael, are you all right?" KITT's voice was heavy with concern.

"Yes, just give me a minute." he said as he took slow deep breaths trying to control the pain.

Then he heard a moan from Bonnie's location and it got louder. He swallowed down his nausea, gritted his teeth against the pounding in his head, and got up to move over to Bonnie. He found her lying just a few feet from KITT, with her left shoulder in an unnatural position. He knelt down beside her and placed his hand on the side of her face and neck.

"Bonnie, can you hear me? Don't move I think you dislocated your shoulder." He could see the pain she was suffering in her face and he wanted more than anything to wipe it away for her.

"Michael, where are you? What happened?" she said. There was definite confusion in her voice.

"Open your eyes, there's light in here." He paused and when she didn't obey him he tried again. "Come on open your eyes, let me see those beautiful brown eyes." he said softly.

This time she listened and opened her eyes to look him straight in the face. She could see the stream of bright red blood flowing down his cheek and neck. "Oh my God, Michael you're bleeding!" she said and started to wipe the blood away when the pain in her shoulder shot down her arm. She screamed as the pain increased. Michael grabbed her arm and held it still.

"I told you not to move." Without turning his attention from her he said, "Can you x-ray her shoulder, KITT?"

"No, Michael, the x-ray system is not functioning. However from my limited other scanning equipment I would say her shoulder is definitely dislocated, and I might add that you both are probably suffering from mild to severe concussions."

"Yea, I coulda guessed that one." He lightly placed his hand on her forehead and brushed her bangs away. "Bonnie, l want you to look at me again." she had her eyes squeezed tightly shut trying to fight back the pain in her shoulder. Michael kept talking to her softly.

"It's gonna be okay, come on I want you to focus on me." Finally she opened her eyes and looked at him. He flashed her his killer smile and she smiled slightly in return. "Okay that's better." He sat down next her for fear that he might fall on her if he couldn't fight the dizziness.

"I'm going to have to put your shoulder back in place. It's gonna hurt like hell for a few seconds and then all the pain will go away. Okay?"

She nodded her head "Yes." she replied in a shaky voice.

"Okay." Michael moved to her left side and looked over her shoulder without moving her arm or anything. The ball of her shoulder had popped backwards out of the socket; he would have to pull her arm forward with a hard jerk to get it to pop back into position. He sat down next to her and started to take his boot off and explain what he was going to do.

"I'm gonna use my foot as a brace and hold your hand to pull your arm out straight in front of you. Then with one quick jerk I'll pull your shoulder back into place."

Bonnie stared at him blankly for a second. "Where are you going to put your foot?"

"In your arm pit, to brace your shoulder while I pull."

"Michael, I don't know about this. Have you ever done this before?"

"Yea sure lots of times." he smiled.

She looked at him and knew he was lying. "Alright, if you say so."

He realized that she knew he was lying, but she trusted him to do it anyway. He reached out to her cheek, rested his palm there, and looked deep into her eyes. He saw fear, pain and enormous trust. "This is going to really hurt and then it will be all over."

She nodded in reply before he gently lifted her arm and placed his foot in her armpit. He pulled lightly until her arm was straight out. She moaned in pain and bit her bottom lip as a tear escaped from her eye.

"Here we go three… two… one." He counted down and then pulled her arm very quickly and very hard towards him. He felt as well as heard the joint pop back into place. She cried out in pain louder than the first time and curled up in a ball. Michael held her arm and rubbed it to work the feeling back in and soothe the pain. Then he pulled her up to his lap, held her and whispered how sorry he was for hurting her.

The pain had stopped already and she could feel Michael's hands on her arm. Then he pulled her into his arms and held her close. She clung to his strength and the warmth of his body. She sat there for a few seconds feeling safe from the world in his embrace and momentarily forgot the disaster around them. Then she felt the warm sticky fluid on his neck and remembered that he had been hurt too.

She pulled back from him. "You're bleeding."

He looked at her and brushed her hair away from the left side of her face. He saw a small gash there above her ear. It wasn't bleeding as profusely as his head was, but it was bleeding nonetheless. "So are you."

She looked around the mess trying to locate the first aid kit and spotted it secured to the front wall where it should be.

"Sit here I'll get the first aid kit," she said as she got up.

"Try to stay to the floor side of the trailer. KITT's afraid that we aren't real stable here." He said as he lay back on the floor. Now that she was okay he was having trouble fighting off the dizziness.

She came back with some antiseptic, gauze and bandages. When she knelt down next to him she noticed that he was very pale. "Michael?" she said questioningly.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked at her. "You don't look good." she said.

"Thanks, you on the other hand look like you're ready to go dancing."

"Sorry." She reached out to his chin and gently turned his head to the side to get a better look at the cut. "Michael, I think this is pretty deep. It's probably going to need stitches."

He had closed his eyes again and responded without opening them. "There are supplies in the kit to do that."

She snorted a little "You have got to be kidding right? There is no way I can stitch up your head. I can't even sew a button on my shirt."

Her hand was still resting on his cheek and he reached up to place his hand lightly on her arm. "You have to." he said quietly. Then he rolled his head so that he could look in her eyes to let her know he was serious.

She sighed "All right. Let me clean it up and try to stop some of the bleeding first."

He rolled his head back to the side, and she went to work cleaning the wound. It wasn't a large gash, only about an inch or so.

"KITT, I'm going to need some help calculating the dosages of drugs. I know there is an anesthetic in the kit as well as a pain killer of some kind." She said as she finished with the cleaning.

"Of course, you should probably give him some antibiotics too."

She started to get up and Michael caught her arm. "No drugs, I need my head clear."

"You need some pain killers."

"I said no drugs." He repeated in a calm but forceful voice.

"Michael, at least let her give you some penicillin and Tylenol." KITT said pleadingly

"Okay, but nothing else." he agreed.

She went back to the first aid kit and retrieved the materials to stitch up Michael's head as well as a small vial of penicillin and a syringe. They had always kept a few prescription drugs on hand for emergencies, but there had never been a use for them until now. Michael usually made it to a hospital first. She came back to him and sat down again. She gave him the pills first and a bottle of water, then she started to thread the needle with the silk. Her hands were shaking and it took several minutes for her to accomplish the task.

Michael knew she was scared to death; he reached out to her hand and covered it in his. "You can do this."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"I'll be fine. Just make the stitches small and go in and out of the skin quickly. That'll hurt less." She really didn't think she could do this, but Michael had such confidence in her and he needed her to help him.

She nodded once and started to stitch him up. She finished in a few minutes and with KITT's help administered some penicillin as well. Then she put a bandage over the newly stitched cut.

"There, all done. How do you feel?" she asked Michael.

"Like I've been used for a pin cushion."

"Well, I guess that sarcasm means you'll live."

"Yea, I just need a few minutes here."

"Fine. I'll look around and see what kind of condition we are in." She stood and walked up to KITT's prow. "Well this is certainly a different way of looking at you." She said to him.

"I'm getting a different perspective of the world as well." KITT responded.

"What can I do for you? Are you okay?"

"At this point my problems are minimal and none of them are life threatening to you. However the engine is going to need much more work now. I believe there is a leak in the crank case and oil is spilling out."

Bonnie got concerned, if the oil managed to get into some of the electronics it could short out circuits and cause KITT further discomfort. "KITT, where is the oil leaking?"

"I'm not sure. There are no self diagnostics functioning right now."

She left him to look for a flashlight and after searching around the rubble and remains of her computers and workbench she finally came back with one.

"If I open your hood will it unbalance you?"

"I don't believe so, but just in case do it slowly."

She opened his hood a little and glanced around. The oil leak was small, but visible. "I found it. I think with some rags I can stop the flow enough so that nothing will short out."

She put a few shop rags around the leak and stuffed a couple more in places where the oil had dripped already. "KITT, have you activated the emergency signal yet?"

"Yes, I did it as we started over the cliff."

"Good." Then she stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at Michael. "Oh my God!" she shouted.

Michael sat up instantly and regretted it immediately as his head pounded and the dizziness returned. "What?"

"I forgot, I disabled all the emergency alarms at FLAG and never turned them back on."

Michael held his head as he got to his feet. "Don't worry about it; someone will notice them eventually when we don't call in."

Bonnie looked pale, "What if they don't?"

He walked up to her "They will. Now let's clean up your cuts and I want to get some ice on this." He indicated his injury.

They moved over to the first aid kit to save carrying the supplies around, and Michael cleaned and bandaged up the cut on Bonnie's head, two small ones on her arms and another one on her knee. She had numerous bruises all over.

"You know you're really going to feel these tomorrow." He said as he finished up and put the supplies away.

"What are you talking about? I feel them already."

He poured a couple of pills in his hand. "Here take these. It's just Motrin, nothing real strong."

"Alright time to assess the situation. KITT, I'm assuming there's no communications out of here?" Michael said.

"That would be a correct assumption. My systems are still down and I don't think you'll find any of the computers on the floor functioning." KITT said

"What about cell phones?" Bonnie asked.

Michael looked around and laughed. "Do you have any idea where yours is?"

Bonnie also looked around the mess and shrugged. "I guess we could start looking and then hope it's not destroyed when we find it."

"Michael your phone is still here with me." KITT called.

"I don't know if I can get back in there and not knock you over."

"Well, I'm lighter why don't I try? Besides I want to shut down some of KITT's unnecessary functions. We didn't get his battery charged and I don't want him going offline due to a lack of power." Bonnie said as she made her way through the debris to KITT.

Michael followed right behind her. "You know this is really creepy with the couch and table nailed to the wall". He had stopped next to the couch and was staring at it.

She laughed at him and raised her arms to start climbing up KITT's nose to the fender. Her injured shoulder pulled and she grabbed it with her hand and rubbed it.

"Hey, let me boost you up there." Michael said and came up behind her. "We should really immobilize your arm when you're done in there." He picked her up and supported her with his hands on her butt. He grinned "This is where I've always wanted to put my hands."

"Michael Knight, can't you ever be serious?" she said as he shoved her up onto KITT's fender.

"Now where would be the fun in that?"

She inched her way along the fender to the open window.

"KITT, is there anyway I can help counter balance you while she crawls in there?"

"Perhaps, but I'm not sure if it's safe for you." KITT said.

"Well tell me what it is and I'll decide."

"Would you two hurry up? This is not the most comfortable position." Bonnie complained.

"Michael if you crawl under the open gap between the bottom of my chassis and the wall you might be able to find some place to hang your weight that will help. The higher up the wall you can go the more counter balance you will provide."

Michael started to move under KITT, keeping as close to the wall as possible. He found that KITT's tires against the wall left a decent gap between the car body and the wall. He jumped up and grabbed a hold of KITT's frame. "Okay go on in, but don't take forever. This isn't the most comfortable position either."

Bonnie slid in the open window and stood on the side of the passenger seat back. "KITT, where is Michael's phone?"

"In the center glove compartment."

She crouched down in the cramped space, found the phone and shoved it into her pocket. "OK got it. Now let's shut down some systems." She moved her head under the dashboard and brought out the flashlight. "I know this drives you crazy, but the main scanner is a power hog. I'm gonna shut it down."

"That's alright; it's not functioning correctly anyway. Just leave the local communications running."

Bonnie smiled to herself; she knew KITT wanted to be able to keep track of Michael and his condition. He hated being cut off from Michael. She spent a few more minutes turning off nonessential equipment and systems.

"Hey, are you about done in there?" Michael shouted. "My hands are going numb."

"Okay I'm coming out now."

Bonnie climbed out and slithered across the fender. Michael met her at KITT's front end and reached up to help her down. When he got her to the ground they were standing face-to-face and very close. Michael's hands were on her hips. They stood there for a few seconds staring into each other's eyes, and then Michael backed up.

"So did you get the phone?" he asked.

She was bewildered for a second, something had happened just then and she wasn't sure what.

Michael repeated his question "Hey, did you get the phone or what?"

"I… augh. Yes I have it." She dug the phone out of her pocket and turned it on.

The phone displayed no signal. "Dammit, we're not getting any signal here. Wherever the hell here is."

Michael remained silent for a few seconds and she wasn't sure he had heard her.

"Michael, did you hear me?"

He turned to her. "Yea I heard you. I didn't really expect it to work, but we had to check anyway." He paused. "I have to find a way out of here and get to the cab."

"What, you can't go out there. You'll freeze to death." She said.

"Michael I doubt that any communications in the semi cab are working." KITT added.

"I'm not going to check the Comm.'s. Paul and Jim are out there, they could be worse off than we are."

Bonnie raised her hand to her mouth. "Oh, I'd forgotten all about them. Do you think they are okay?"

"I don't know, but I have to go find out." He answered.

"How are you going to get out of here? There is the door." She said and pointed to the floor at the forward end of the trailer. They had rolled onto the side and blocked the door shut. "I don't think we want to open the back end even if we could."

Michael glanced at the wall that used to be the ceiling. He found what he was looking for and walked up to the air vent. It was a small opening but he thought he could fit through. "KITT, will I unbalance us if I try to climb out this vent?"

"I really have no way of answering that without seeing the situation outside." KITT answered. "Unless of course you want me to call the psychic hotline?"

Bonnie turned to Michael and gave him a dirty look "Oh he is spending way to much time with you."

Michael just laughed and went to work on the air vent. "I think I can open this, but its really only supposed to pop up to allow a little air flow. I'm going to have to take the thing off to get a hole big enough for me to crawl out. Do you have a screw driver in here?"

"Yes, somewhere." She walked around, located a small pile of tools and brought a handful over to Michael.

He removed the screws and was about to pull the vent off then stopped. "It's going to get cold in here, why don't we find our jackets first and get some warmer clothes before I open this?"

"Good idea. I have our coats." She replied.

Michael moved to the front of the semi knelt down and tried to open the door to the living quarters. "Damn this won't budge. It must be wedged or torqued shut."

"Can't you kick it in?" she asked.

"Maybe if the door opened inward, but it opens out to this area remember? Do you have a cutting torch on board?"

She thought for a minute "Yes but it's in the outside tool compartments. There's no access from in here."

"I could use my laser to cut a hole in the door." KITT suggested.

"Hey great idea partner!"

"No, not a great idea. KITT, you know how much energy the laser consumes. If you use it, even on low power, it will nearly wipe out your power reserves. I'd have to take you offline." Bonnie pointed out.

"Okay, so much for that idea." Michael said.

"No, it's my power and I can use it for what ever purpose I want. Getting to the warmer clothing and blankets is an important enough reason for me." KITT argued.

Michael looked at Bonnie and shook his head. "He has a point; we can't treat him like a child all his life."

"I don't like it." she said.

"I know you don't Bonnie, but it is my decision to make. Just as it is Michael's decision to make to go out after Paul and Jim." KITT said.

She sighed heavily and KITT knew he had gotten through to her. He loved her dearly, but sometimes she really over mothered him.

"Alright." was all she said.

"Good. Now may I suggest that the two of you move way back here closer to me? My targeting system is out and this is going to be a trial and error thing."

"What?" Michael said as he grabbed Bonnie's hand and walked over to KITT. "You're going to shoot all over until you hit door?"

"That was my plan."

"Great this idea gets better by the minute!" Bonnie sarcastically commented.

"I'll use the lowest power setting until I strike the door. That will conserve energy. Michael I'll need your help zeroing in on the door, since my main scanner is offline I'm shooting blindly."

Bonnie groaned. "Don't say it." Michael stopped her before she could say anything. "Okay KITT, fire away."

KITT's first shot was way too high and actually struck the ceiling. Bonnie and Michael both ducked.

"Whoa partner, way off. Come down four feet and right three feet." Michael said.

KITT fired again and hit the front wall this time and incinerated a hole in the refrigerator.

Michael laughed, "I hope that thing wasn't working after the crash."

"This is not funny! How am I going to explain all this to Devon?" Bonnie whined.

"How are you going to explain what? What did I hit?" KITT questioned.

"Don't worry about it KITT. Just try listening to my directions. You came down too low. From the last shot, come up two feet and right two feet."

The next shot hit the door right where Michael wanted it.

"That's perfect. Now give me a three foot square hole using that last shot as the bottom left corner."

KITT increased the laser power and fired a steady beam cutting the hole as Michael directed. When he finished he stopped the beam and assessed his power levels. He was alarmed to find that he only had enough power to keep his CPU running for another four hours. Then he would have to shut down into the horrible dark and silence. When his CPU is taken offline, there is still a small amount of power left that keeps data storage going. Unfortunately it also allowed him to remain in a semi conscience state. He has the ability to think and is aware of time passing, but unable to see, hear, speak or feel. He would be imprisoned in a catatonic state and aware of it every minute. He also realized that he would leave Bonnie and Michael in the dark without his fog lights.

Michael patted KITT's nose as he walked away. "Nice job". He stopped just before the door and kicked in the square piece KITT had just cut. He poked his head in and then came back out with a funny look on his face.

Bonnie had remained near KITT leaning on him. When she saw Michael's expression she joined him at the door. "What's wrong?"

He picked up the flashlight, and came back to the opening. "I'm not sure but I think I hear water." He shined the light into the living quarters, and it reflected off a two-inch lake in the room.

"Oh no. The water tank must have leaked." She said.

He turned to her with a dumbfounded look. "You think?"

She made a fist and punched his shoulder. "This is no time for joking around. Everything in there is going to be wet, and if you go in there to look for dry stuff you're gonna get wet too."

He swung away from the opening and started looking around the rubble. "Maybe not. If we can find enough stuff to pile in there I can stand on it to keep out of the water."

They worked together finding items that would fit through the hole and make a path above the water, which was slowly rising. Michael then crawled through and searched the room. He found only two blankets that where still dry. Some of Bonnie's clothes were dry too and he brought them out as well.

"One thing is for sure, we have enough water to drink." Michael said as he squirmed back in through the hole.

"You didn't find anything for you to wear out there." Bonnie commented.

"No, but I have a bag in the trunk. I think there is a sweatshirt in there. KITT, is my climbing gear still in there?"

"I believe so." KITT answered.

Michael spent a few minutes getting his bag from the trunk as well as a hundred foot climbing rope. When he finished putting on the extra clothes he secured one end of the rope to the couch leg nailed to the wall, and the other he tied around his waist.

"Okay you two, I don't have any idea how long I'll be out there so don't worry if I'm not back right away. While I'm gone Bonnie, why don't you look over the food situation?" He said as he put on his gloves.

"Michael those are driving gloves, they aren't going to be enough to keep you warm." Bonnie said. She moved over to stand in front of him. "This coat isn't going to do much either."

He looked down at her. "I know. I'll try to be as quick as I can and get back here." He started to turn away, and she reached out to hug him. He pulled her close and rested his cheek on top of her head.

"Be careful, and come back. I need you here." She said into his chest.

He put some distance between them; afraid that if he didn't something might happen. As much as he wanted that, now was not the time. He removed the air vent lid and housing and hauled himself up to the open hole. It was a good six feet up from the floor. Then he wiggled out the hole and was gone. The rope pile on the floor began to ply out the hole.


	5. Chapter 5

Bonnie watched the rope for a few minutes before she decided that wasn't productive at all. She walked up to KITT.

"So, no lies what are your power levels?" she said in a stern serious voice.

KITT recognized it as her authoritative motherly voice and decided that he'd better tell the truth or incur her wrath. "I have enough power for four hours, but I think I will shut down sooner to save some power for the lights. I don't want to leave you and Michael in the dark." he said quietly.

She leaned her head forward and rested it on his fender. "Oh KITT, I'm sorry." She completely understood the sacrifice he had made to open the door for them.

"It was my decision, remember?"

"Yes." She answered but remained where she was.

"Aren't you supposed to be checking on the supplies?" he asked gently. He knew she needed a distraction.

"Yes." she said again and she left him to head toward the front of the semi. She looked around, spotted a second flashlight and put it in her back pocket. Then she went to the refrigerator to check on the contents. Since there was no power it wasn't running, but it was still cool inside. Bonnie located some tape and covered the hole in the door that KITT's laser had burned. She hoped that would keep at least some of the cold air from escaping. The milk had spilled since the fridge, like everything else, was on its side. There was only a little food inside and most of it needed the microwave to heat it; but there was some cheese and ham.

After looking over the food situation she decided to check on the water level in the front room. Using the flashlight to see the stepping-stones she then climbed through the hole in the door. The lake didn't look any deeper and Bonnie decided that the water tank must be empty. That at least was a relief; the water was only a couple of inches from the opening cut in the door. They would have been in trouble if it had over flowed into the back of the semi.

When Bonnie got back in the main area of the semi she decided to work on a way to heat up some water for instant coffee. She had a battery-operated soldering iron for working in the awkward places on KITT's circuitry. She used that and some spare parts to create a battery operated heating element. After forty-five minutes she had water boiling in the coffee pot. Then she realized that Michael had been gone all that time and she started to get really worried about him.

"KITT, Michael's been gone for a long time. Is he alright?" she asked hesitantly.

"I am still tracking the com link and can faintly pickup his heart beat. I'm afraid that I don't have the power to communicate with him."

"Okay." she said. Now with the water heater done she couldn't think of anything else to do, so she started pacing the floor waiting for him to come back.

Michael had dropped out the vent opening and immediately started sliding down the hill in the snow. He braced his feet and grabbed a small tree to stop his movement. It was dark out now and even if it hadn't been he doubted that he would have been able to see very far any way. The snow was blowing everywhere.

He pulled out the flashlight and found that it didn't help much in the blizzard. After a minute of struggling back up the hill he reached out, found the roof of the semi and followed it forward to the cab. On his way there he found what had stopped the semi's roll. It was wedged up on several large trees that hadn't broken. He was amazed that they held and very thankful too. When he reached the front of the semi the tractor was nowhere to be found. He found the coupling device and noticed that it had been torn apart. The cab must have continued on down the hill.

"Shit!" he yelled, to no one in particular. Then he pulled all the extra rope out and tied it off on the trailer stand. He wanted to be able to go straight down the hill to retrace the path of the tractor. His hands were freezing and he had a difficult time tying the knot. He knew he didn't have much time before frostbite started to settle in. Without the use of his hands he would be stuck out here and end up freezing to death.

He started his journey down the hill, and after several minutes he started to fear that he might run out of rope before he reached the cab. Then suddenly he found himself staring at the big black tractor resting on its side. He carefully climbed up the rig and opened the door. The first thing he found was Paul hanging lifeless in the seatbelt straps. It looked as if his neck had been broken. Then he noticed there was a large hole in the windshield, with bloodstains on the edges of the glass. He started to climb further in the cab to look for Jim and felt the truck start to slide a little. He swept his light around the area, but could not see Jim anywhere. He must have been thrown out the windshield Michael thought, in which case he's probably dead too.

Michael got down from the truck and started his climb back up the hill. His hands were almost to numb to keep a grip on the rope and his legs were starting to tingle too. When he finally made it back up to the trailer he stopped at the front of it to rest and escape the wind a little. Then he continued his trek back to the vent, by the time he made it there he had no strength left to climb up the opening.

He shouted to Bonnie. She was pacing inside the trailer and heard his calls for help.

"Michael, I can hear you!" she shouted back through the opening.

"I can't climb back in, no strength left." He said breathlessly.

"Give me some slack in the rope." She went to where the rope was tied to the couch leg and pulled the slack around it to create a pulley system.

"Okay hold on, I'll try to pull in!" she yelled. Then using every bit of strength she had she pulled. Michael tried to help by climbing as much as he could. He reached and was able to get his hands inside the vent and started to pull himself in. When the rope went slack Bonnie turned around to find him halfway in the opening and she pulled him in the rest of the way. He came in headfirst and had no energy to stop his downward descent. He came crashing in on top of her and they both went down to the floor. He was ice cold and shaking uncontrollably.

"Oh my God he's freezing!"

"He may be on the verge of hypothermia;" KITT said. "You need to warm him up quickly. Are his clothes wet?"

"Yes, the outer layer is at least." she answered.

"Then get them off, remove any clothing that is wet or damp and cover him with the blankets. You can also use a warm compress on his chest and neck."

"Alright." She started striping off his clothes and for some reason thought this would be more fun if he were alert. She pushed the thought from her mind and concentrated on what she was doing. She struggled with his wet clothes and when he was finally stripped down to his briefs she rolled him up in the two blankets they had salvaged from the sleeping quarters. She then started the water boiling again.

"KITT, would it help to give him some hot coffee?" she asked while dipping his t-shirt in the hot water as a makeshift compress.

"Yes, a sweet fluid would be better, something with sugar."

"I'll put some sugar in if I can find it."

When she went back to him with the hot compress she noticed that his shivering had already begun to slow down. His eyes were closed and she wondered if he had lost consciousness. She pulled the blanket away from him and he groaned and tried to pull it back up.

"Stop fighting me, I need to warm you up." She told him gently. He released the blanket without opening his eyes. When she placed the hot t-shirt on his chest he moaned again, but this time it was not a sound of pain or discomfort. It was more of a contented sound.

She left him to make another compress and get a mug of coffee. Locating an unbroken mug and the sugar turned out to more difficult than she expected. By they time she came back to Michael's side the first compress was cooling off and his shaking was almost unnoticeable. She replaced the old cloth with the new one and he opened his eyes.

"Hey there," she said. "I have some coffee for you. Can you sit up to drink it?"

He closed his eyes again. "Not yet." he mumbled. Then he opened his eyes again. "They were dead."

She knew he was talking about Paul and Jim and she closed her eyes and fought back a tear. They had been with Flag for three years now and she had gotten to know them well. They both had wives and Jim had a six-year-old son. She inhaled a deep shaky breath and wiped her eyes as she blew it out.

Michael worked his hand free of the blankets and covered her hand.

"I'm Okay," she said with a sniffle. "We need to get your body temperature back up. So I want to you sit up and drink this coffee. If you need to you can rest your back on the wall."

He nodded his head yes and together they moved him to the wall and got him into a sitting position. She left him with a mug of coffee and went to make a couple of sandwiches with the food she found earlier.

Michael sipped the coffee and made a face; '_Damn_' he thought '_How could her coffee get any worse?_' He put the mug down beside him. The second compress had grown cold so he removed it and snuggled into the blankets more.

Bonnie came back with two sandwiches and a second mug of coffee. She saw that he had not drunk much of his cup and that he was leaning heavily against the wall with his eyes closed.

"KITT, is he alright, can you get any readings?"

"I am getting a steady, strong pulse and his temperature is up a little. He still needs to be warmer to be out of danger." KITT answered.

"Michael?" she paused when he didn't respond. Then she reached out to shake him gently. "Michael can you hear me?"

He opened his eyes, but they didn't seem focused. Bonnie moved from her sitting position to her knees and scooted closer to him. She picked up his mug of coffee, steadied his head and put it to his lips.

"Open up and drink this. We need to get you warm."

He pushed her hand and the mug away. "No it tastes like shit." He mumbled.

"Thanks, I'll remember to compliment your cooking. I don't really care what it tastes like; it's hot and has the sugar that you need. Now drink it."

He drank several swallows and she could almost see the affect it had. His skin started to take a more healthy color and his taunt muscles relaxed a little. She brought the mug back up to his mouth. "Okay, drink some more."

When she got almost three quarters of the cup down him she set it down and put the sandwich up to his mouth. He needed very little coaxing to eat the sandwich as he gobbled it down. Michael suddenly couldn't remember the last time he had anything to eat.

"Hey, take it easy, don't eat my fingers!"

"Keep them out of my mouth!" he said while chewing.

He chewed the last bite with his eyes closed again. Bonnie picked up the coffee once more and put the cup to his lips. He moaned in complaint about having to drink the vial concoction, and then gave in and finished it off. While he rested she ate her sandwich and chugged down the hot bland liquid. He was right she thought this instant stuff is awful.

Michael looked much better; she leaned forward and rested her hand on his forehead. "KITT, what's his temp?"

"98.0 He is out of danger now, but should still be kept warm."

"Well that's not going to be easy; the temperature in here feels like its dropping."

"That's because it is. You should get the vent cover back on. That will help a little."

"Right." She moved to get up and Michael caught her arm. She wasn't even aware that he was awake let alone alert enough to move that fast. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"I'm better. Thank you."

"You're welcome." she said and kissed his forehead. Then she left him to put the vent cover back on.

"KITT, how much time do you have left?" she quietly asked him after finishing her chore.

"If I'm going to save some power for the lights, I should shut down in about twenty minutes."

"You don't have to do that, Michael and I will be fine in the dark. We have a couple of flashlights."

"They won't last over an hour or two. Besides, who knows how long it will take for this storm to pass and for Devon to find us? My fog lights will last for six hours or more."

"And then we will still be in the dark and you will have suffered those six hours alone."

"Bonnie I will have to go offline no matter what, either in twenty minutes or two hours. I'm still going down. This argument is pointless."

"He's right." Michael said from his position on the floor. "Let him make his own decisions."

"Thank you, Michael." KITT said.

"Don't mention it, Pal."

"All right then. Bonnie keep him warm, actually both of you keep warm. Conserve the food and keep drinking the warm water even if you run out of coffee to put in it." KITT said as his final words of wisdom.

Michael got up and wandered over to his partner. He reached his hand out and lightly laid it on KITT's hood. "We'll be right here when you wake up, partner. Just remember this is only temporary."

Bonnie placed her hand next to Michael's "We won't let anything happen to you." she sniffled.

"I know you won't. I trust you both." KITT said "Goodbye." and with that he set the fog lights to remain on and then shut down his systems completely.

The room became very quiet. It was strange that they had never noticed the background humming that KITT's systems always made. KITT's shell immediately began to cool off where their hands where. Bonnie made a slight sobbing sound and Michael took her into his arms.

He wrapped the blanket around them both and she hugged him back with her check resting against his bare chest. They both realized at about the same time the position they were in and Michael's state of dress or lack there of.

Bonnie quickly stepped back and Michael wrapped the blankets back around himself.

"Bonnie, what happened to my clothes?" he asked. He had an idea but he felt like toying with her a little to make her forget about KITT.

She blushed deeply and turned away from him. "I ugh… I had to take them off. They were wet and you were almost hypothermic."

He wasn't going to let her off that easy and moved to stand in front of her. "So you striped me down to my skivvies?" he said and raised his eyebrows in question.

Bonnie got defensive. "Yes I stripped you. You were going to die." She tried to move away from him again but he followed.

"I knew you were just waiting for your chance to see me in my underwear." he said with mock arrogance in his voice.

She stopped trying to get away from him and instead turned on him. "I was not trying to get a look at you in your boxers. In fact that was the furthest thing from my mind." She said poking him in the chest with every other word. "I saved your life and here you are attacking me!"

He started to smile and then switched to an all out laugh the madder she got. She stopped ranting and poking him when he started to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You! You're so defensive!" he said innocently. "I must have hit a nerve there somewhere."

She opened her mouth to say something in return then closed it when she realized what he was doing. He was trying to take her mind off KITT and part of her loved him for it. He saw it and recognized that the game was probably over. He smiled and tried to bait her one last time.

"Are you going to say something or where you just catching bugs?"

"I am not going to respond to your childish games." she said snootily and walked away from him.

"Okay, but that means you loose and I win." He said as he rummaged through his bag for some clothes to put on.

"Michael, don't you ever grow up?"

"Growing up is overrated." he turned to say to her. Then he decided to mess with her some more. She was looking right at him, so he dropped the blanket and proceeded to get dressed in front of her.

Bonnie was heating up more water for a second round of nasty coffee and trying very hard not to let him get her mad when he dropped the blanket. She was momentarily stunned. That was the last thing she expected him to do and for a brief second she stared at him. He was gorgeous, even with the scattered scars on his chest and legs maybe even because of them. His stomach wasn't exactly a washboard, but there was certainly no flab there either. His chest and legs were covered in dark curly hair. Not so thick that he could pass for a dog, but just the right amount to be sexy as hell. She had seen him earlier when she took his clothes off, but then she was so totally engrossed in saving his life that she didn't really take notice of his body. Now in this very brief moment she noticed everything and committed it to memory.

"Michael!" she shouted and turned away blushing. Her face was as hot as the sun and the rest of her was catching up quickly. '_I'm not sure this is what KITT had in mind when he said to stay warm_' she thought to herself.

Michael was laughing behind her as he finished dressing. He was quite pleased; in that short moment he saw something in her eyes. Desire. She wanted him, or at least part of her wanted him. Now he just needed to convince the rest of her.

When he finished dressing he gathered the couch and chair cushions and placed them on the floor in the middle of the semi.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked him. She had been watching him from the corner of her eye while she made another round of sandwiches.

"We are eventually going to have to get some sleep and it'll be warmer and more comfortable if we don't have to sleep on the floor." He answered as he brought the blankets over to the make shift bed.

"If you think for one second that I'm sleeping with you, then you really are dreaming."

"Come on Bonnie, there are only two blankets and we'll be warmer if we double them up and share. Not mention the body heat we'll share." He said the last bit with a sly smile on his face.

"That is exactly why I'm not sleeping with you."

"Why, because you don't want to share warmth? Don't be silly we could freeze to death you know."

"No, that's not it at all. It's that little smile you just made when you said share body heat."

"All right, no games." He said and held his hand out to her. "Now come on and bring that food over here. I'm starving and cold."

She didn't take his hand, but she came over to the cushion pile and sat down with him. She handed him a sandwich and mug.

After a few minutes of silent eating she quietly asked, "Why do you always do that, make jokes of everything and take nothing seriously?"

He finished his bite and thought for a few seconds about the answer to that question. "I don't know, I guess maybe because the world is serious enough and could use a couple of jokes." He could tell by the look on her face that it wasn't a complete enough answer for her. She wanted to know what was really behind the mask he usually wore and for the first time in a long time, he wanted someone to see him and accept him. So he decided to take a chance on the woman he loved.

He sighed lightly "Bonnie what I do… what I've done in the past… what I've seen and been a part of. All of it is enough to rot a person's soul. The jokes and games and immaturity… it's all a coping mechanism for me." He had been staring intently at the contents of his mug while speaking, but looked up at her now. "Without it I don't think I'd be sane right now." She was watching his every move and facial expression.

She saw the pain and sorrow of all the tragic and horrific events of his life flash across his face, and wanted nothing more than to erase them all for him. "I'm sorry, Michael. I didn't realize…" she faltered. "I mean, I guess I didn't understand."

He touched her hand lightly and smiled a sort of sad smile. "It's alright. I wouldn't have expected you to know or understand." He shrugged his shoulders and moved his hand away from hers to pull the blanket up around his shoulders more.

"My life is full of dark patches with some occasional light shinning in. Most of those dark times were before FLAG, and the last six years with you, KITT and Devon have been more bright than dark." He smiled as he said the last bit.

"I know that we have been through some bad times as a group and you specifically, but I'm glad that we have brought some light to your life." she said.

He looked into her eyes and said "Meeting you and KITT has been the best thing to ever happen to me. I wouldn't change that even if I could." He glanced back down to his mug and then drank the last bit of the rank coffee. At least it was hot he thought. He made a face as the last swallow went down.

"It really is bad isn't?" she said with a little laugh.

"Yea." He agreed and then put the mug down on the floor. "Look, I'm a little tired, so I'm just gonna lie down here and catch a few winks." He got one of the chair back cushions for a pillow and lay down on his side with the blanket wrapped tightly around himself.

Bonnie thought he looked like he was still cold. She moved over next to him and lay down on her back covering them both with the second blanket. She wanted to comfort him and make him feel better but there were also other feelings surfacing again. She decided to fight them back; after all she was still unsure of how Michael really felt about her. The way he joked and kidded around it was hard to tell what he was really thinking or feeling.

He felt her move over next to him and opened his eyes to look at her.

"If you get any ideas," she started to say, but he interrupted her.

"No games I said, I promise." He moved his pillow over to share it with her and then closed his eyes again.

She trusted him completely and soon joined him in sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

In LA Devon was getting out of a late meeting with several FLAG lawyers. "Have they called in?" He asked Cathy as he entered his outer office?

"No, there's been no word at all." Cathy answered. "You have a few messages but nothing that can't wait till morning."

"Please get Pete or Scott on the phone, have them see if they can track any signals from KITT." Pete Muller and Scott Rickart were two of the three members of Bonnie's team that helped her maintain and repair KITT's systems. Devon was a bit worried; it had been three hours now since Bonnie called and according to the maps he checked they only had forty miles to drive. They should have reached the little town of Creede by now and called in. He prayed that nothing had happened to them.

"Mr. Miles, Pete is on line one for you." Cathy said and handed him a cup of tea.

Devon picked up the phone and barely got hello in before Pete jumped in.

"Mr. Miles, I don't know what happened, but the EHS had been activated and none of the alarms went off. This is crazy sir, but they have been deactivated from here."

He was still rambling on when Devon interrupted. "What is the EHS?"

"The Emergency Homing Signal"

"All right calm down, Peter. Where are they?"

"The signal is stationary but strong. It's about a hundred miles north of the Colorado state line."

"Get a portable tracker ready to go, I will pick you up at the lab in ten minuets. We are going for a helicopter ride."

Devon contacted the FLAG pilots and made arrangements for the chopper to lift off in half an hour. He then made several calls to get some rescue personnel ready to respond as soon as they located KITT. He kept busy and didn't give himself time to wonder what peril Bonnie, Michael and KITT might be in or why the emergency alarms had been deactivated.

A couple of hours later the pilots were in a heated argument with Devon. They had to land the helicopter when the weather got to rough to fly and they were still more than eighty miles from KITT's signal.

"I'm sorry Mr. Miles, it's just too dangerous to keep flying in this weather. We have to wait for the winds and the snow to die down." The pilot said.

"My friends are out there in that wind and snow!" Devon shouted at the man. He rarely lost his temper, but his concern for Michael and Bonnie's well being had blocked out his usual rational and controlled behavior.

"Well then I hope they are sheltered somewhere, but I'm not adding my crew and your life to the endangered list. We wait" the pilot said before he turned and walked away from Devon.

Several hours later Michael slowly woke up, he found that he had rolled onto his side and was spooned up to Bonnie. His arm was around her waist and she had a hold of his hand. She had pulled his hand up to her chest and they were snuggled quite close. He closed his eyes again and relaxed. He felt so sure that this was how he was meant to spend the rest of his life. Then he realized what woke him up in the first place as he felt pressure on his bladder. '_Damn_' he thought '_I'm gonna have to get up_.' It was darker now in the semi as KITT's fog lights had begun to dim. He carefully untangled his hand and arm; he really didn't want to wake her.

Once he got out from under the covers and away from the warmth of Bonnie's body he immediately began to shiver. The temperature must have really dropped in the last couple of hours. He quickly located an empty water bottle and went to the back of the semi to relieve himself. On his way back to the front he stopped at KITT's front end and rested his hand on the car. It was so cold, as if KITT wasn't there at all. He felt a deep ache in his chest and hoped that someone would find them soon. He couldn't imagine what KITT was going through all by himself and Michael wanted to put an end to it.

He started to get really cold and went back to the cushion bed. He quietly crawled back under the covers and was careful to keep some distance between them. He wasn't sure he could control his bodily reaction if he was that close to Bonnie and aware of it. He listened to her steady soft breathing and relaxed when he was certain that he had not woken her up. He reached out and softly played with the back of her hair.

"Maybe KITT's right and you are over the pain Chad caused." Michael whispered. "If so, if the time is right…" he paused "I want you to know that I love you, and I'm gonna find a way to tell you." He stopped toying with her hair and smiled to himself. He thought it felt good to say those words out loud, even if no one else heard them.

Bonnie had woken up shortly after Michael. She realized instantly where her hand was and more importantly where his hand was. She had wrapped her hand around his, so at some point she either put his hand there or at least accepted it when he did it. She wasn't scared or upset by it, in fact she felt more comfortable than she had ever remembered feeling with a man. Then much to her disappointment he started to move his hand and arm. He was getting up. She pretended to sleep, she wasn't sure she wanted to face her feelings yet.

After a few minutes it became apparent why he had gotten up and she laughed to herself. Then she wondered what she was going to do when nature called her. In her peripheral vision she saw Michael stop by KITT and place his hand on him. It warmed her heart to see how much Michael cared about KITT and how worried he was. She closed her eyes as he moved to come back to bed. She wondered if he would take her in his arms again and was a little disappointed when he kept his distance. She started to drift off to sleep again when she felt him playing with her hair, it brought a smile to her face and she drifted again. Then she heard his words, her eyes were instantly open and she was wide-awake. Had she misheard him? He was whispering after all and she was almost asleep. Did he really just say that he loved her?


	7. Chapter 7

Michael heard it first, a dull thumping noise that grew steadily louder. He woke up, jumped out of the bed and startled Bonnie as he did so. He barely had time to notice that in their sleep they had again moved into an intimate embrace.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie questioned him.

"Do you hear that?"

"No." She rubbed her arms feeling the chilled air and missing Michael's embrace.

"Well I do and it sounds like a chopper." He gathered up his coat and gloves, they had dried but were stiff and very cold. He grimaced and put them on anyway.

Bonnie heard the sound now too and got up to stand next to him. "Don't tell me you're going outside?"

"Well I want to make sure they see us, besides we have to get out of here somehow." He responded. Then he pulled the lose vent out of the hole and started to climb out. This time he climbed upward to stand on top of the tipped over semi trailer. It was very slippery and at a slight angle. He had a difficult time keeping his footing, but finally managed to stand upright. He glanced around at the scene and was amazed. There was a thick coating of new snow everywhere, and it sparkled like a million diamonds. It covered the ground and clung to the trees. If it hadn't been for the fact that they could have frozen to death in it he would have thought it was beautiful. Then he saw the chopper come into sight and started to wave at it.

Devon saw Michael standing on something waving frantically at them. It took a minute for him to realize that Michael was actually standing on the semi, and that it was not on the road. Devon had the helicopter hover over the scene for a minute to let Michael know that he had been seen. They would have to call in rescue personnel for this, the roads looked impassable.

It took another hour for the rescue helicopter to arrive and extract Michael and Bonnie from the semi. After being assured that KITT would be rescued as quickly as possible and that a snow plow and truck were on their way with equipment to pick him up, they were then flown to the nearest hospital to be checked and cleared.

Michael glanced through the small window in the door to see Bonnie sliding off an examination table. Her arm was in a sling, but she looked fine. He knocked softly on the door as he opened it. "Hey there, can I come in?"

She looked up and gave him a big smile. "Of course you can. Did they fix you up?" She said angling her head to catch a look at the head wound that she had originally stitched up.

"Yea. The doc said that you did a decent job. He put in a couple of extra stitches, but left it alone for the most part. He did say it would scar though."

"Ohh, I'm sorry."

He laughed a little. "Don't worry about it what's one more, besides it'll add character don't you think?"

She laughed back at him "I think that you are enough of a character."

"Now, come on," he looked at her eyes and they were shinning. They had just gone through the equivalent of the rinse cycle and spent several hours freezing in the back of a semi truck and he thought she looked beautiful. "We should probably go see if they got KITT rescued yet." He said as he started to turn.

She agreed with him, but she felt an urgent need to question him about his words in the semi. She was scared to death, but she felt that if she didn't do it now she might never have the courage again. "Michael?" She called a little questioningly and paused. He stopped and turned back to her. "Did you mean it… what you said?"

He stopped when she called his name and turned to look at her. There was anxiety in her face. Then she asked the question and he knew what she was talking about. '_She must not have been asleep_' he thought. His first instinct was to play it off and pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. Then he realized that she was giving him his opportunity to tell her for real. He steeled his courage and walked back to her stopping only inches away. He locked eyes with her.

"Yes." He said simply and smiled. "I don't know when it happened." He laughed a little. "Hell maybe it was even the day we first met. But it did happen." He put his hands on her arms. "I have fallen in love with you."

She opened her mouth to say something and he stopped her. "No, you don't have to say anything, not yet."

She interrupted him. "Well I'm going to. Do you know how long I have dreamed about hearing you say that? So long in fact, that I gave up. I mean at first I think it was infatuation, then wishful thinking maybe. Then Stevie came back and I put it aside, what ever 'it' was. Then I got hopeful again when you climbed out of that depression and finally I gave up. So when Chad came along… well I guess... I don't know."

The whole time she was talking Michael was standing there in stunned silence. He never imagined that she felt the same way he did. He finally gathered his thoughts and realized that she was still rambling on. He interrupted her. "Bonnie," he paused. "Shut up." He leaned in to kiss her.

His kiss was light, soft and tentative. She then began to understand the power she might have over him. He was afraid, even after she had pretty much admitted that she loved him too. He was still afraid. She had never known Michael Knight to be afraid of anything.

She opened up to him and he slowly and methodically explored her mouth, as she did his. She wound her one good arm around his neck and threaded her fingers into his hair.

He felt dizzy and light headed and it had nothing to do with his head injury. When she invited him in, he deepened the kiss and it was more fantastic than he had ever dreamed. He felt her arm circle his neck and her hand in his hair. He carefully wrapped his arms around her waist and back and pulled her to him. He didn't want to squish her other arm, but he wanted to bring her as close as he could.

She felt a little involuntary shiver move through his body and he slowly pulled away. She found that she was breathing hard.

He slid his hands around her body and brought them up to rest on either side of her face, as he rested his forehead against hers. "Wow." he said softly.

"You can say that again." She said as she ran her hand down the side of his neck and his chest and rested her palm there.

Devon had made sure that KITT was safely removed from the semi wreckage and loaded on the flatbed truck. Pete attached the charging system they had brought with them and started charging KITT's batteries.

After ensuring that KITT was in good hands and would soon be on his way to LA, Devon got back in the FLAG helicopter and flew to the hospital to check on Bonnie and Michael. When he arrived he was told where to find them and then made his way to the examination room. He glanced in the window before knocking and stopped, frozen statue still by the scene through the window. Michael and Bonnie were in an embrace that could thaw any frostbite.

'_Oh dear Lord_' he thought, '_What sort of trouble is this going to cause?_' Then an uncontrollable smile spread to his face. Trouble or not, he wanted these two people to be happy no matter what and that maybe they had just found the right match.

He waited until they broke apart, then he knocked on the door. "Excuse me, am I interrupting anything?" he said as he came in the room.

Michael pulled away from Bonnie and turned to face Devon. "As a matter of fact..." he started.

But Bonnie interrupted him. "No, you're not." she said blushing and glanced at Michael who had a shit-eating grin on his face.

Devon came further into the room. "Well, I thought you'd like to know KITT is safely on his way back to LA."

"Devon, did Pete initiate his systems?" Bonnie asked.

"No, he said it would take time to charge KITT's batteries enough."

"Well can you contact the truck? I want him to come here. There's no way he's going to make the whole trip home shut down."

Devon pulled his cell phone out. "Of course. I'm sure they haven't gotten far and if so we can meet up with them in the helicopter."

Twenty minuets later they had met up with the flatbed truck that was taking KITT home. He was strapped down to the back and covered with a tarp. Michael and Bonnie climbed up on the bed of the truck. Bonnie checked KITT's charge levels and decided that he had enough power to be brought back online. She initiated the start up sequence for him.

"Hey, Buddy can you hear me?" Michael asked when Bonnie shook her head indicating that he was coming online.

"Michael? Bonnie?" KITT answered hesitantly.

"Yes, we're both here." Bonnie answered him.

"Where are we? Are you both okay?"

Michael smiled and laughed a little. "We're all gonna be okay, you're out of the semi."

Bonnie climbed back in KITT's cabin and bent awkwardly under the dash. "Just a minute. I'll turn your main scanner back on. I know it's damaged a little, but it's better than being totally blind."

"Thank you, that's much better. Hello Devon, I take it you rescued us?"

"Well I called the rescue teams in. I'm glad to see you are alright." Devon answered.

"Well I'll be much better when I get home." KITT said.

"Alright then let's get back on the road." Michael said then jumped down from the truck. He reached up and helped Bonnie climb down. Michael stepped closer to her when she had both feet back on the ground. "I'm gonna ride home with KITT."

Devon went back to the helicopter to give them a moment alone.

"Are you sure? It's going to be a long slow ride on that truck."

"Yep. I'm sure. I don't want him to be alone anymore."

She smiled a little and again was amazed how much he cared for KITT. "Okay. I'll get the lab ready for him." She wanted to say more, felt that more needed to be said. She thought their conversation in the hospital left so much unsaid.

Michael read the expression on her face. He reached up and rested his hand on the side of her face. She leaned into his palm and closed her eyes. He leaned down and kissed her lips; several soft, sweet, short kisses. Way to short she thought. He pulled away and placed one last kiss on her temple as he moved back just a little.

"When you're done with KITT we're going to talk" he said. Then he quickly climbed up to KITT on the truck. "OK let's roll" he shouted to Ray, the driver, as he got into KITT. He waved to her and they rolled away.

She stood there several minutes and watched them disappear down the highway. Her whole life was about to change, normally that scared her and this time was no different. She loved Michael, she was sure of that, but she was also completely devoted to KITT. How was this change going to affect all three of them?

"Well I guess I missed something while I was offline. Care to catch me up?" KITT said as Michael settled into his seat.

"I took your advice and told her how I feel."

"And?"

Michael chuckled. "And it turns out she feels the same way, or at least that's impression I got. We're going to have to spend some time figuring it all out. But right now I want to talk to you about it."

"Michael, it's alright I don't need an explanation. I've seen this coming for a while now."

Michael laughed again. "You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's my understanding that you humans have to figure these things out for yourself." KITT joked.

"Yea, well I still want to talk about it with you. I want you know that my feelings for Bonnie are not going to change the way I feel about you. We're friends, partners and that's not going to change."

"Thank you, Michael."

The End


End file.
